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Friday, 6 January 2012

Long Day's Journey to Publication

I think it’s fitting that I’m paraphrasing
the title of the great Eugene O’Neill play for this post. Long Day’s Journey into Night deals with all sorts of dysfunction—alcoholism,
regret, bitterness, denial—just a few of the pitfalls a writer has to
deal with on the gruelling road to publication!

I’ll leave those issues for another post.
It’s the word “long” I want to focus on today, because it has taken me many
years to have a full-length piece of writing published. So many years, that
when I read the phrase “debut writer” I feel a little embarrassed—I’m too old
to be a debut anything. To me, the word
“debut” suggests a teenaged girl in a pink prom-dress, or a gangly young man in
an ill-fitting suit. I’m more like a “journeywoman” or even a “veteran.” You
know—wily or grizzled—definitely not this “sparkling” person my book’s blurb
refers to.

But, whether you’re grizzled or still bubbling
away, the journey to publication almost always involves detours or dead-ends—even
a washout or two. I’m sure there are many writers who, in their early 20s, produce
good work, find an agent, get a publishing or production deal, then spend the
rest of their lives in the lofty and lucrative company of other sensitive
poet-souls.

For most of us, though, it doesn’t work
like that. Life gets in the way—there may be a demanding job, there may be
children, there may be darker surprises like illness or divorce or needing to
care for an elderly parent.

Or we may be late-starters. I didn’t
start writing until I was in my 30s, and that was at the same time as I had my
children. Not the best timing, really, but I still miss getting up before they
did (my son was usually awake and ready to go at 5:00 a.m.), sitting in a dark
cold room, bashing out short stories on
an old manual typewriter (probably while smoking an illicit fag, too—just to
add to the romance of the scene).

So, I started late, had kids—but then some
of my stories got published! And one of the stories was spotted by a young film
director who helped me adapt it as a possible short film for Channel 4, and
then I wrote another full length spec script that lead to meetings at the BBC and Channel 4 and
phone calls from producers and interest from agents and then….well….nothing. No
options. No productions. Not even on offer of representation.

I sold another measly story. That was it.

I’d hit a creative dead-end. And I’d had
enough of having hopes raised only to be dashed to the ground again, so after
the late start, the having kids, the dealing with years of rejection, I stopped
writing. Not for too long a time, but long enough to finish a degree in English.
Long enough to train as a teacher. Long enough for my kids to sleep in later
than 5 a.m. Long enough for JK Rowling to make publishing history, and the
section “Young Adult” to appear on bookshop shelves.

And when I started writing again, I re-read
that “measly” story that had been published. I’d been thinking about the
characters in it, and wondering where they might have ended up if their story
had continued. Gradually (and very slowly, of course!) they found somewhere new
to live—inside a new, longer story, about the nature of identify and family,
about what makes a place “home.”

That story was the starting point for “At
Yellow Lake.”

So, a long day’s journey it has been. I
know that writers who are scrabbling to find the time to write, or are dealing
with the numbing reality of personal difficulties, or are opening up their
e-mails to find yet another rejection or piece of disheartening news, know only
too well the bumps and twists on the writing road. Much of the time, the whole
bloody trip can seem depressing, frustrating and completely pointless.

But sometimes there’s no other way to get
to a place. It’s the only road and you’re on it, so you might as well enjoy the
stunning scenery, the company of your fellow travellers, those mysterious
little side roads that lead you to places strange and new.

And if it seems like it’s taking forever, well, maybe that’s how long it
takes.

12 comments:

And sometimes it seems like forever and a day! That's why having a blog is such a nice thing, it lets you get work out there without the hassle and the pressure of publication schedules. Enjoy this new journey!

It was such a relief to me when I discovered how long it was taking other people too. There is no quick way to learn to be excellent at something but we should appreciate how much we are learning on the way.

Thanks for all your comments, especially the "one sick bunny", Paula! OK, I'm probably being a tad sentimental there. Maureen...maybe we should follow the example of Italian cooks and start a "slow book movement." And yes, Candy and Nick...I think I might take to this. It's fun to try out a different "voice"...Thanks, everyone!